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SANTA CLARA — Sure, it was fun playing in a second Stadium Series game in as many seasons. No question, the memory of skating in front of 70,205 fans will last a lifetime. In the end, though, it was nothing more than a successful business trip for the Kings.

Before you can even click the video stream of the latest episode of the “EPIX Road to the NHL Stadium Series,” the disclaimer pops up: “Due to the possibility of strong language, the following program may be unsuitable for children under 18.

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The U.S. champion Jackie Robinson West Little League all-star team will visit Dodger Stadium today, taking batting practice, meeting former Dodger players and being honored before the game against the Colorado Rockies.

It worked so well once, the NHL decided to try it again. The league announced Wednesday it would stage a second outdoor game in as many years in California, with the San Jose Sharks playing host to the defending Stanley Cup champion Kings on Feb.

Meanwhile, back to the games that don’t count. In case you missed it, the Dodgers opened the 2014 regular season with two wins over the Arizona Diamondbacks last week. But when they open the Freeway Series against the Angels on Thursday at Dodger Stadium, they’ll actually be concluding their final three spring training games rather than resuming the regular season.

Even a 3-0 loss to the Ducks on Saturday couldn’t totally spoil the Stadium Series atmosphere for the Kings. The game at Dodger Stadium was announced as a sellout about five hours before the puck dropped.

The NHL carefully crafted its image of Southern California to fill the spaces surrounding the ice rink at Dodger Stadium on Saturday. In left field, a group of beach volleyball players rallied on a standard sand court.

Pre-game, in-game and post-game updates from Los Angeles News Group writers and photographers at Dodger Stadium, where the Anaheim Ducks and L.A. Kings face off in the first of NHL Stadium Series contest.

Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said it was a game he’ll remember for the rest of his life. Team captain Ryan Getzlaf said it was the perfect ending to a hectic week. Right wing Teemu Selanne used the word “unbelievable” again and again and again.

Photos from the 2014 Stadium Series game between the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014. The Ducks won the NHL game 3-0. Having trouble viewing, or viewing on mobile? See the full gallery with more than 50 photos here:

Vin Scully took the microphone from Dodger Stadium field, as he’s done so many times before, but this pre-game theme was so incredibly different: “And now, it’s time for … NHL hockey!” And so it began, the NHL’s Stadium Series event between the Kings and Ducks on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 54,009.

The Kings arrived at Dodger Stadium on Friday afternoon. They found an ice rink surrounded by a stage for the national anthem singer, a stage for the rock band KISS, a beach volleyball court and a roller rink amid the normal trappings of the iconic ballpark.

The bone-chilling cold is what Wayne Gretzky remembers most of growing up in the frozen outdoors. He wouldn’t be “The Great One” for many, many years. At the time, he was just another bundled-up youngster playing hockey with his friends in Brantford, Ontario.

Dress rehearsal? Or main event? Two nights before the Ducks and Kings play the first outdoor game in California in NHL history, they met indoors Thursday night at the Honda Center. By game’s end, it was hard to imagine it could get much better Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

Need a Hollywood primer on what it’s like in the world of outdoor puck? In the 1999 film, “Mystery, Alaska,” Russell Crowe plays the sheriff of the fictitious small town way up in the Last Frontier, but he might be more well known as the veteran player trying to keep his spot in what’s called the “Saturday Game” — a four-on-four game of pond hockey where the whole town comes to watch.

As part of her prep work for Saturday’s Kings-Ducks outdoor game broadcast from Dodger Stadium, NBC Sports director Lisa Seltzer downloaded as much music from KISS and Five for Fighting as her iPod can hold.

Check ice skating at Dodger Stadium off my bucket list. I never had that on my bucket list, but it was so cool, skating around under the Wednesday night lights over the area where Hanley Ramirez is normally fielding plays at shortstop for the Dodgers.

First, the indoor game. Then, the outdoor game. The task for each game will be simple and yet complex. The Kings must neutralize the Ducks’ speed and eliminate their skill with physical play and a relentless dedication to their more methodical style.

If not for the availability of the nearby Anaheim Ducks, perhaps matching up the Los Angeles Kings with the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium would have brought some symmetry to this idea of playing an outdoor game on Southern California ice.

Hockey hits Dodger Stadium on Saturday, and there won’t be a bad seat in the house. Oh wait. The NHL Stadium Series event, the first of its kind in Los Angeles, will have some good views from the reserve and upper-reserve levels but many difficult views and hard-to-see angles for the historical Kings-Ducks game.

The forecast for Saturday calls for skepticism and a chance of fear. These are unusual conditions for Los Angeles, but so are hockey games in open-air stadiums. Seriously, a 22-degree sheet of ice covering the Dodger Stadium infield? “It’s a hard concept for anyone not in the field to understand,” said Dan Craig.

An alarm blared at 2:32 in the morning. Dan Craig awoke in his bed in Ann Arbor, Mich. halting what was already going to be a short night’s sleep. There was no time to hit the snooze button, only to roll out of bed, both feet hitting the floor and heading off to work.

If the Kings and Ducks can fill a 54,000-seat Dodger Stadium, someone more adept at crunching numbers would have to consider raising the bar and envisioning another outdoor game next season — like at the Coliseum with a potential for 90,000-plus.

The conversation was in October 2011, and NHL chief operating officer John Collins had been bouncing around the idea of whether the Kings were worthy of playing host to a league-sanctioned, regular-season outdoor game.